Finance Committee Prioritises Budget Transparency

Reverting to a more transparent process than had been used in the past, the NCFC Government’s approach to the ongoing Finance Committee meeting allows Opposition Members greater opportunities to question, and clarifies for the public, Government’s proposed spending for its 2026-2027 plans.

Rather than each of the eight Ministers reading statements for up to two hours each Premier the Hon. André M. Ebanks MP asked them to present shorter statements of between 15-20 minutes and distribute to all Members of Finance Committee a set of explanatory notes for every budget appropriation group in each of the 19 Ministries, Portfolios and Offices. 

“This gives Finance Committee Members and the public an extraordinary level of detail they can scrutinise line by line—an approach that is much better than lengthy debate contributions which lack specificity. The NCFC approach provides the public with a more complete understanding of how Government plans to spend the public's money for their benefit," explained the Premier, who is also Minister for Financial Services and Commerce. “This is transformative good governance to better inform the people of the Cayman Islands.”

Finance Committee Chair the Hon. Rolston Anglin MP led more than 30 hours of examination of the Appropriation (Financial Years 2026 and 2027) Bill, 2025 through a detailed, line-by-line review and discussion of each output group, allowing the public to clearly understand how government funds are allocated.  This is a relatively normal process.

 “We go output group by output group so that Members ask specific questions and it is done publicly so that the public gets the explanation of its budget,” said Hon. Rolston Anglin, who is Minister for Finance and Economic Development, and Minister for Education and Training. He further highlighted that this format makes budget information more accessible than traditional parliamentary debates, which can be lengthy and technical.

During the Committee meeting, Ministers provide brief overviews of their respective ministries and portfolios, followed by hours of detailed questioning. He highlighted that this format makes budget information more accessible than traditional parliamentary debates, which can be lengthy, technical and come days before the scrutiny by the Committee. Very often the public had little to no opportunity to actually follow along.  This innovative approach breaks down the budget into meaningful and relevant sections.  It gives the public greater insight into budget details than traditional debate formats.

The Government’s newly instituted practice of providing detailed schedules of the appropriations for their ministries to the Committee so as to provide greater detail of the current and new initiatives will also be shared online. “We are here as servants to the public in this public forum and I certainly hope as members of the public have listened they too have been able to follow along and ensure that they are understanding how their money is being spent.”

Members of the public are encouraged to tune to the proceedings live this week via the CIG TV YouTube channel and Radio Cayman to follow the remainder of Standing Finance Committee proceedings as appropriations for ministries and portfolios are discussed.